NEWPORT — Northern Kentucky has that 21st century vibe going in all corners.

        Five Northern Kentucky cities have been honored for their “21st century way of thinking” by the Kentucky League of Cities and The Lane Report, a business magazine.

        Newport and Florence took two of the top awards, the 2002 Enterprise City Awards.

        The L&N Pedestrian Bridge project in Newport and the Online Property Tax Web site in Florence have been honored by the 350-city league. The projects embody “the whole idea of connecting citizens to their cities to build them for the future,” said Sylvia L. Lovely, executive director and chief executive officer of the league.

        The “21st century way of thinking,” Ms. Lovely says, takes into account the new economy, social connectedness and quality of life. The league's New Cities Foundation project is keyed around these values, she said.

        “The city is going to be very responsible for that in a world where (because of technology) people can live and work anywhere,” she said.

        In the Newport L&N Pedestrian Bridge project, the city took ownership of a former railroad bridge over the Ohio River and is converting it to a pedestrian bridge between Cincinnati and Newport. It's a good example of a city exercising this responsibility, Ms. Lovely said.

        “It's sort of along the lines of thinking big and thinking small at the same time. The pedestrian bridge is small-scale and human, but it also is symbolic of creating a bigger connection (regionally) in the future.”

        Florence got the honor for becoming the first city in Kentucky to permit residents to pay their local property taxes online. Launched in November, the Web site lets taxpayers use secure-site credit card payments for their taxes.

        “It's e-gov,” Ms. Lovely said. “They're doing a really innovative thing, using the Internet to increase the interaction between citizens and cities.”

        This, too, points to a 21st century way of thinking, “when efficiency in government is going to be so important,” Ms. Lovely said.

        Other Northern Kentucky cities took honorable mention for their projects. Taylor Mill in Kenton County was honored for its Pride Park Project.

        The city bought 72 acres of land in 1997 to build a recreational facility that includes a wide range of activities. That is a quality-of-life project, Ms. Lovely said.

        Carrollton, about 40 miles from Cincinnati in Carroll County, was honored for a downtown reinvestment program that dedicated 10 percent of all property tax collected in the city to revitalize the downtown area.

        Maysville, about 50 miles from Cincinnati in Mason County, was honored for the success of its Kenton Commonwealth Center, a one-stop government housing facility containing four agencies. Maysville was an “early adopter” during the government efficiency era of former Gov. Brereton Jones, Ms. Lovely said.

        Nine other Kentucky cities — Horse Cave, Beattyville, Island, Hazard, Morehead, Versailles, Louisville, Georgetown and Owensboro — received the top award as well this year.

        Judges for the Enterprise City Awards included Rick Hesterburg, spokesman for Toyota, Jim Elliot of National City Bank, Melissa Wasson of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Ed Lane, publisher of The Lane Report, Chief Judge Mary Noble of the Fayette Circuit Court, Jim Joseph of Lexmark International, David Lord of the Lexington Convention and Visitors Bureau and Laura Boison of Bank One.

        Founded in 1927, the Kentucky League of Cities is based in Lexington. With a staff of 70, it provides its 350 member cities services including bond, investment and insurance pooling, state and federal lobbying, legal assistance, training and information services.

        The Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and the Ohio Municipal League are similar, but smaller organizations serving the Tristate.

        Three years ago, the Kentucky league, which had been giving these awards on its own, partnered with The Lane Report, a business magazine in central Kentucky, to bring in the business community. The awards will be presented at a summer ceremony.

        The awards are just one project sponsored by the New Cities Foundation, which Ms. Lovely says is trying to create the concept of the New City.

        Others include the Erasing Racism project, which sponsors community conversations on race, and the CitySmart program, in which the Kentucky League of Cities and Kentucky Educational Television use city halls as worker education sites. “Citizenship begins with education,” Ms. Lovely said.

        “Underpinning of all of that is citizenship and the restoration of citizenship. It's people getting involved at the local level to create change and the place that they want.”

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